Chapter 3 - THE MAN WHO MISSED SEVEN YEARS
Daniel didn't speak for nearly a minute.
He simply stared at Betty and Maria.
The girls stared back.
Maria smiled politely.
“Are you the groom?”
Daniel swallowed.
“Yes.”
“Are you rich?”
Rachel closed her eyes.
“Maria.”
“What?” the little girl asked innocently. “Everybody says billionaires are rich.”
Daniel almost smiled.
Almost.
“Yes,” he said.
Maria nodded.
“Mommy says rich people still have to clean up their own cereal sometimes.”
Rachel wanted the floor to open.
Daniel looked at her.
“She talks about me?”
“No.”
“Then why does she know what billionaires are?”
“Because she's seven.”
His eyes hardened.
“You knew I was the father.”
“Yes.”
“For seven years?”
“Yes.”
“You never told me.”
Rachel's voice cracked.
“I tried.”
“When?”
“The night I found out.”
Daniel stared.
“What happened?”
“I sent you an email.”
“I never received it.”
Rachel went silent.
“I sent it to your office.”
“I never received it.”
“I sent another to your personal account.”
“I never received that either.”
Rachel's face drained.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Rachel, I would have come.”
She laughed bitterly.
“You didn't come when I left.”
“I searched for you.”
“You stopped.”
“I searched for six months.”
“You stopped.”
“I didn't know where you were.”
“Exactly.”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
Then Betty asked quietly, “Mommy, is he our daddy?”
Silence.
Rachel looked at her daughters.
Then at Daniel.
“Yes.”
Betty's mouth opened.
Maria's eyes widened.
Daniel closed his eyes.
A single tear escaped before he could stop it.
Rachel had never seen Daniel cry.
Not once.
He crouched slowly until he was at the girls' eye level.
“Hi.”
Betty studied him.
“Hi.”
“I'm Daniel.”
Maria tilted her head.
“We know.”
Daniel gave a broken laugh.
“Right.”
He looked at Betty.
“You have my eyes.”
Betty touched her own face.
“Mommy says they're pretty.”
“They are.”
Then he looked at Maria.
“And you have my smile.”
Maria grinned.
Rachel watched him realize what he had lost.
Seven birthdays.
Fourteen school performances.
Seven Christmas mornings.
First teeth.
First words.
First nightmares.
Every scraped knee.
Every fever.
Every bedtime story.
Seven years.
Daniel stood.
“I need to know who kept me from you.”
Rachel looked at Amanda.
Amanda was standing near the doorway.
She looked terrified.
Daniel noticed.
“Amanda.”
She froze.
“Did you know?”
Amanda whispered, “Yes.”
His face changed.
“How long?”
“Three years.”
Daniel's voice became dangerously quiet.
“You knew Rachel had my children for three years?”
“I knew there were children.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because your father threatened my family.”
Daniel stared at her.
“My father?”
Amanda nodded.
“Charles Harden knew about the girls.”
Rachel's blood ran cold.
Daniel's father had died two years earlier.
A heart attack.
A billionaire patriarch whose name still appeared on buildings throughout Manhattan.
Daniel looked at Rachel.
“My father knew?”
Rachel whispered, “Apparently.”
Amanda reached into her purse.
She pulled out an old envelope.
“I found this after he died.”
She handed it to Daniel.
His fingers trembled as he opened it.
Inside was a photocopy.
Rachel recognized it immediately.
Her pregnancy announcement.
The email she had sent eight years earlier.
At the bottom was a handwritten note.
Do not allow Daniel to see this woman again. Handle it.
Daniel looked at the signature.
His father's.
He slowly raised his eyes.
“Who handled it?”
Amanda whispered a name.
“Your father's attorney.”
Daniel's face became terrifyingly calm.
“What was his name?”
“Richard Vale.”
Daniel folded the paper.
“Where is he?”
Amanda looked at him.
“Still working for Harden Enterprises.”
Daniel turned toward the door.
“Then I'm going to ask him why.”
Rachel grabbed his arm.
“Daniel.”
He stopped.
“You can't just walk into my life and take my daughters.”
He turned.
“I know.”
His eyes softened.
“I don't want to take them.”
“Then what do you want?”
He looked at Betty and Maria.
“I want the seven years I lost.”
Rachel shook her head.
“You can't buy those.”
“I know.”
“And you can't fix them with money.”
“I know.”
Daniel took a breath.
“So tell me what I can do.”
Rachel stared at him.
For the first time, Daniel wasn't demanding.
May you like
He was asking.
And somehow that scared her more.
